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Nation al Union Executive Committee. 

SPEECH 

OP 

HOIST, ©. Q, teox, 



BEFOKE THE 



Johnson Union Club of the 6th Congressional District, New 
York, on the 9th of August, 



The Hall o( tue JoLusou Democratic Union Association, at 206 Eighth Ayeoue 
was completely filled la.st night, by a highly entertained audience, to listen to an 
address upon the worl: and infamies of the late Rump Congress. 

At 8 o'clock Mr. Andrew D. Hoaglaod, having been elected chairman, arose 
and said: 

srivECH OF MR. HOAGLANT). 

Gentlemen and Fkllow-T'nionists : This is but the first of a series of 
Union meetings to be held in (his place during (he ensuing campaign, and to be 
addressed by able and eloquent Bpeaker*. (Applause.) I sineerdy thank you 
for the honorable position to which yen have a.'^fiigned me, and esteem it unnec- 
cessary to state the object of our coming together. You are all aware of that, 
and will be addressed, in language eloquent, able, and exhaustive, upon the 
deeds and misdeeds of the late infamous Rump, by the centleman wh^m [ have 
the plea^-urc of introducing to you, (he Hon. S. S. Cox. " (Loud ehcors.) 

SPEliCH OP HON. S. S. COX. 

Tbo first se,s.-ion of the Thirty-ninth Congress ha,s ended. The be.^t thing it 
did was to die. (Laughter.) ^^jt altogether lovely in it* life, its death was its 
chict merit. Posterity will rcmtmber with graitude that spark of patriotism 
which led it to— the tomb. But it Is not altogether dead. A'on omrns vioriar. 
It survives in ihe memories of men and in 5,000 page.? of Coiigressiotui Globes! 
(Laughter.) Upon five volumes of immortal type, piled quarto upon quarto, sits 
as on a sublime pedestal of talk, this Amexicau Rm.-ip ! (Laughter.) [t is' 
therefore, monuniental ! Let me lay my immorklks on its tomb. '^ Nero had his 
fncBd, aiid his affection, after death, has a historic fragrance. I would lay my 
little forget-mc-uot at the shrine of this congregation of petty Neros, (Laugh- 
ter.) _ My sadness is very similar to -that of" the minister who was requested ta 
Breach the funeral of a very bad young man. After giving U? ciinraoteri.-itic3 
he ordered the body removed, while the choir sang the hymn : ' 

"Witli rapture we, delight to see. 
This -wicked cuss removed 1" 
(Great laughter.) 

True, this Congress was not a symmetric body. It was a ilump. It was mis- 
begotten and rais.s!-.apen. But it was ail ours. The mcther loves more dearly her 
deforcaed offspring. True, it was not angelic in disposition. Is had in ita n.Uur© 
more ten per than reason j more wickedness and less love ; more gall ami lass 
milk. But true chariiy condones for such wZtmiths in a ricketiy orc'a.uxsm. 
(Laughter.) * o ■ 






^CsQ. 



Its composition, motives, and acts were iuoongniouB and extraordinary. Be- 
fore reviewing theiti, let mc tell jou wbat the Thirty-ninth CougresH should 
have loeen. The war had cea<3ed. Its object, the restoratioti of federal au- 
thority, was auhieved! The serpent of secessioa liad been thrown trora the 
national breast, where it had been coiling for four years : and the good men of 
the land were pouring balm into the half-healed wounds. It was under these 
peaceful omens that this Congress met. 

By the law ef the 4th of March, 18G2, it was declared that after the Sd of 
March, 1863, "•'the number of members of the House Rfpresentativcs of the 
Congress of the United ^'tates should be 241." Could this law, passed since the 
war, be carried out after peace came ? Why not'? Tt was as much of a law as 
that which gave to the Clerk of the House the right to ignore States in making 
his roll. It remained unrepealed. The 241 members never all took their seats. 
Only a fraction secured them. Hence it is called a Rump. To make up this 
number of 241 , Virginia was allowed 8 ; Tennessee, 8 ; Georgia, 7 ; North 
Carolina, 7 ; South Carolina, 4 ; Arkansas, 3 •, Louisiana, 5 ; Mississippi, 5 ; 
Alabama, 6 ;. Florida, 1 ; and Texas, 4. Here were 68 members ready to sit 
in the Federal Legislature. They were anxious to serva the imtere^ts of great 
peoples to be affected by its legislation. Two Senators were ready, or soon 
would have been, to represent each of these eleven States. They were not ex- 
cluded for disloyalty ; for no inquiry was condescended upon that point of quali- 
fication, Nevada, California, Oregon — far distant and newly-made States, 
linked to us by no historic associations — only by their shining ores and grand ad- 
ventures — these were represented ; but, omhecall of the roll, fifty-eight mem- 
bers and twenty-two Senators, from States full of all revolutionary and frater- 
nal memories and anxious to be imbound again in the same destiny, were 
debarred. If these eleven States were in the Union on the 4th of March, 18G2, 
when the Bepubiicans passed the law fixing the number of members — why were 
they not on the 4th of December, 1865, when, sitting under the painted 
escutcheons of the States in our Capitol halls, twenty-five usurped the rights 
of thirty-six? (Cheers.) Those gilded and colored ceiling>, each pannei of 
which framing the emblem of a State sovereignty, but all irradiate with the 
lustre t-f a common central orb glowing through them upon the hall beneath, 
should have been a far more significant appeal for representation th:in even the 
empty seats of the fifty-eight members cr The vacant chairs of twenty-two absent 
Senators. Why was this ? History will in vain strive to answer, until she 
brings her microscopic ken to bear upon -the partisan infusiorcc wfeich have 
wriggled their hour in this Congressional element. In the analysis of this sin- 
gular unrepresentative body, where one-third of tie States were not, I propose 
first to glance at the men and then at the Measures of tiiis Congress. 

1. As to the men ; they are classed as partisans. Over two-thirds in each 
House were of the Kepublican party, and known- as Radicals. With the excep- 
tion of three, and perhaps four, of the Kepublican members from th'' North, 
there was nearly always concert of action and votes among these two-thirds. la 
the Senate there were Cowan, Dixon, Doolittlo, and Norton 

Wlio, aini't the reign of error, 
Dared sublimely to be true. 

They stood undaunted among their vindictive brothers, holding up tLe bauds of 
the President in his patriotic elForts to enuiiidle love and ifispire patriotisiu. 

The party ascendant were led in the Senate by men of the French rnvoluiion- 
ary type, like Robespierre, the Incorruptible, and Can.i.'le Desmoullos, « the 
Attorney-General of the lamp-post." They wore full of fino theories which 
they illustrated in " bloody iRstructions." They Ir.ekcd tho courage of Marat, 
©anton, and Mirabeau, and the purity of iho Girondist chicfd. Suumer, Fessen- 
don, and Wade furnish types of the dominaut .Rndieal, while Stevens, Bontwell, 



Bin,^haru, "Washburne, Wilson, Dawes, Colfax, and Wcntworth, furnish sampler 
of the unconscionable, vindictive, incoDgruous, pietistic'parlianientarians, who, 
without heeding the warnings of history, the sauctioi.'s of law, or the interest* 
nf Union, pursued their course, for party success, regardless of their country's 
needs. (Cheers.) 

But the ruling spirit of these Jacobins was Thnddeus Stevens. He is a man 
of iroa will, strong eonvietious, unfailing sarcasm, and vindictive feeling. His 
familiar speeches consist in references to the abodes of the dai; nel, as if fami- 
liar with their ruIcrC He has been likened to that prince. Tut he resembles 
not the Satan f'f Milton, whos.^ tublinje courage we respect, and whose intellect 
we adiniro. Xor the ^Mcphistopheles of (jroethe, whose insidious dis;;uifes and 
tempting lures led German scholars like Fuust, and lovely Gretchens, like 
Margaret — to ruin. Hsth.rhe resembles the "Devil of Daute, who is repre- 
sented as a three-faced devil ; one face red wiUi aiiger, one pale with enry, and 
the third black v;ith vengeance ; having three mouths. 

And at every mouth his teeth a sinner champed. 
Affer which, he swallowed his colleagues in diabolic glee. (LaTightcr.) This 
was the Genius who presiJed over the Junta of Fifteen, and gave impression to 
the misdeeds of the Thirty-ninth Congress ! 

The minority, led by such eoastitutioual statesmen a? Reverdy Johnson and 
Hendri^h?, had but lir.t^le opportunity to challenge these champions to dijbate. 
By lung force, by previous quos'ions, by expulsion of the minoriry members, 
Voorhies, Coffroth, Baldwin, and Brooks — following the sad and had example of 
the Senate in expelling the 'truly honor.ble ^.^nator from New Jersey, to gaiii, 
a two-thirds majority to cripple and thwart the President — thismajij^-ity illustf;).-?^' 
ted the cowardice of the bully, and made its legislation the couuterpar t of that* 
generous spirit which strikes tlie fallen foe. ^ <• . .-■ - ** •■'^' 

2. From the composition of the hody, yon might well infer its legislation; 
Revelling in tlie spirit of war after peace had come^ breathing bitterness instead^ 
of brotharhood, giving reproaches fur reconciliation, and j enulties for pavdohs-^^' 
(choors) — it at once, before irs session began, crossed swords with the Iiumane 
and generous policy of the P.-esidcnt. From t! is spirit, one might think St, 
Janios h;id this (jongress in his mind when he said, " From wl-eiicc come wars; 
and fightings among you ? Come they- not honce even of .yeur lusts ihat "war ia. 
your mo.mbers?" (Laughter.) Referring particularly to^Mr. Stevens, ho wiirag'' 
them : '- Resist the devri, and he wiil fiee from you. Cleanse yo'ar bnnd!5, ye 
sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double minded I" R,ef8rring to their conduct 
toward the South : " He that speaketh evil of his brother speaketh evil of tho 
law." Predicting their fate, ho says: "What is your life? 'It is even a 
vapor that tippeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away !" TJiis ^ody 
Logan its .wicked career in a hiddea caucufj of oligarchs to foil the Pr esident's good 
work iiud circumvent his plans. Determined to keep out the eleyon SfateS; it 
reeked not ox tiio commerce, industry, and happiness of the people. By it.-i fruits 
let it be judged ! Jlea do not gather grapes of thorns or fig^ of thistles. 
Patriocisiu is not born of seclionai asperities, nor does healing coMie from the 
poignard's pr.int in the brigand's hands I Let me pluck gome of the friiit of ihu 
Congress ; whether it suit jour taste <v not, yon have to pay for the jiiar.«tiDg 
and nurture. 

From the 4th of Dccemher to the last of July, there has been oiTeied by the 
Radicals, cou^titutiotai amejidiiieuts-, forty-Cvc ; bills and resolutions for keep- 
ing up disunion, seventy-tnree ; bills and resolutions as to the negro csclusivelj, 
forty-niiie. That these were not a:l passed, is no credit of the Congress ; but 
proceeds from the feebleness of intellect, \\ liieh couldncft frame coherent partH fcf 
the system of destruction and venjcanee they designed. . Mbre than two thou- 
sand pages Oi the Globe are taken iip with discussions abonl the negro qneetibu of 



4 

suflTrai^e iiLil representation aloiie. i&o coujmoa became thii? ncgroiuaijia tliac 
the gallei ieti were thronged with ignoraat Afrieani-, hoping for the most iu^j o-- 
aible Utopiad from these sui-distfuii umis ilei> noirs r and a member from Illinois 
moved to set apart one day of the week as a " white man's day." (Laughter.) 
The nieasurclcsis absurdity of these lovers of hate can find its parallel only in 
'fkQ brutality of their treatment of the President. He was of their own creation. 
They found him following the paths of his predecessor. Mr. Lincoln had, on the 
'Sfch of December, 18G3, recognized and urged the rebel States to restoration, 
beginning the work in Teunetssee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Andrew Johnson 
was ready to adapt to peace the policy of peace which Mr. Lincoln had pironi- 
Iscd in war. At once the Radicals began to sap his cfForts. To do this they 
pifaccd CTcrj impediment in his way. They have not been content to take 

"From every tree, top, bark and part o' the timber, 
Ha' king the root that the air might drink the sap :" 

but, with the fury of a hurricane, they uprooted the ancestral trce.'^ which 
5^ve the sweetness and coolness of their shade to the fevered iSouthcrn people. 
rCheers.) They cast these mutilated trunks in his path. These impediments 
were from many sources. By aniendments of the Constitution, by resolations, 
jeiat and concurrent ; by legislative devices ; by bureaus ; by attempts to curtail 
his powers of appointment ; by chimerical schemes as to equal rights ; by war 
test-oaths aad penalties ; by infringing on the rights of States and communities ; 
hj elaborate and irritative systems of force and fraud for the blacks ; by laws 
'to enforce impossible conditions ; by engendering a wolfish lust in the laud, to ac- 
complish the atrocity of this age, and to render i^pofesiblc the utiiou of these 
-States, for which twenty-six hundred battles bad been fought, foi* which 325,000 
iioldiershad been killed, for which 400,000 seldiers had b«en scarred and maimed, 
tad for which (3,000,000,000) three thousand millions of debt has been creat d, 
aad five hundred millions of taxes per annum are levied ' (A ppluu.-e. ) To erown 
this capital iniquity of earth and time, the written Coikstitutiou made U! der the 
sye of the great Washington is passed through eight months of coddling. The 
'labors of Madison,Pinckney, Sherman, Mason, and men of that giant mould, are 
tinkered by Stevens, Julian, Bingham, Broumall, Sumner, Stewart, and Wilson. 
The consummate glory of our ancestors, the conscious will of thirty 7nillions, is 
dius thatched over with crudities by the '■' quadrimanous activity"' of the zoalots, 
»if"hose philosophy is destruction, and whose religion is revenge. (Cheers.) 

The power which these zealots obtained by sectional collisions, they had used 
bo embroil the States. The outrage.? committed during the war upon the peo- 
ple of the North in their persons, property, and presides — outrages upon uien 
' "srlio strove to su.staiu the Government and l!niou aud to mitigate aud end the 
war by civilized and raticial methods, had made its leaders fearful of a just, 
retribution. They cried, " Perpetuate our power ! It will never do to havo 
North and South unite again ; for then our days arc nurubered i As we grow 
iato life by sundering the sections, so we will die if their Union be perfected I'' 
Notso argued Andrew Johnson. (Applause.) lie had received other iesching. 
Have we not his own resolution in the Senate, copied froni the Crittenden reso- 
lution, which declared that when tie Federal authority was vindicated in the 
Slates re*?usant the war should stop ? He wished the States to be " one'' again 
in their old Federal bond of '• many ;" yet each State to preserve its rights, 
dignity, and equality unimpaired, lie held that no ^'tate or number of States 
could in any manner i^ever their connexion with the Federtd Union. This Con- 
gress denied. It held the connexion to be suadered, and the States in seeof?- 
£iou as outside the Constitution. He held that, war having in vain attacked 
tiu-s connexion, it was wisdom to restore civil order and give harmony to the 
land where carnage had prevailed. In hia proclamations as to North Carolina 
said other States, in his mc-ssage, Iq his vetoes, m his .speeches, the Pre&ideat 



has bold aloft tlie banner of die Nauou. (Cheers.) The siiioke raiseJ arouD^ 
him by his foo:? cannot obscure the starry glory of its folds or the dignity an^ 
statesmanship of him who boars that ensign ! (Cheers.) 

Mark the dift'crcncc between the conduct of the Executive and Cougres?. 
The President, by open pardon, by public proclair.atiou, by p.uiuistalcable kind- 
ness, reiterated his published declarations on accepting the positioTi for Vice- 
President. In his jadgnicnt, secession in every form, wliether by polic}' and 
force from within or without the Federal Government, should be suppressed thafc 
the Unio/. might be maintained. When the Congress met it was under secret 
and caucus control i^nd wiih hypocritical preton.^es. On the 4th of December 
last the Senafe was called to crder. Its Chaplain, Rev. Mr. Gray, gave glorv 
to God that the Eepublic survived : that the desolation of war had ceased, aad 
the ground no longor shook beneath the tread of armies ; that the statue of 
freedom — a colored female by the bye (laughtoi) — looked down from the Capi- 
tol upon an entire Nation *;f freemen, and that this was the acceptable year of 
our God I 

This prayer had scarce been 'jtiercd before Senator Wade oflcjcd a bill t« 
allow the negrcerj to vote : Mr. Wilson, one to maintain the freedom of ti; 
blacks; and Mr. Sumner, ?«evon bills and rcj-olutious to make this a Kepublican 
form of Government ! How '? By prescribing oaths and guarantees, penalties., 
and Constitutional araendments ! i^(ilobi\ ij^. 2.) A beautiful comment on tius 
acceptable year of our God I 

The House met. It dispense^ with the mockery of such a prayer. It pro- 
ceeded to call the niombors of only twenty-P.vc States I The Ivcpiiblio had sur- 
vived ! Then .the Clerk halted', when the tall, gaunt, dark-haired number from 
Tennessee, Mr. Maynard, loomed upon his vision, holding aloft, his credentials 
from the Gnverri'^r of Tennessee ! The ( Icrlr, under caucus orders, closed his 
eyes to the intruder. lie was called upi n to recognize the member who had, 
even siaoo the v/ar, sat for his State. " ^"o^' Ho was asknl to give reasons 
for thus discrowning a State. He said, \:\ reply to Mr. Brooks : '• Let my re- 
cord stand." And there it stands, Mr. McPherson ; and for that act of yours, 
there is n"^ amnesty from the muse you court. I would not do you injustice- 
History, even your own, will only place you behiu I the caucus which you servedj, 
blowina the bellows, while Thaddeiis Stevens touches the keys of the great partj 
organ I (Laughter and cheers.) That mentor and tormentor of the Houscv 
coming to the Clerk's rescue, said : " It is not necessary to give .reasons ; fr© 
know all." Mr. Brooks still pressed the niatter, challenged debate, and 
charged that a private caucus had arranged this partial and atrocious legisla- 
tion ; but at last, being choked down, on the same arbitrtiry principle upoB. 
which he was afterwards erovvded out,, the House proceeded to elect Sihuyk r 
Colfax as Speaker. Amid the hurnrhs of fattening parasites in ih; galleries, 
he org-anized this tumultuous an 1' revolutionary assembly— telling t>.era, v/hilr- 
even yet the rautterings of tho eleven diifranehiscd an-.l enslaved States were 
echoing in the hall, and before Mr. Maynard had folded his crcucntials with 
their seal and ribbon—" that tha war had melted all fetters, and tliat the stavs- 
on our banner which had paled in rebellion now shone with a more brilliant 
lustre !" Eight months roll away, and the pallor of these brightening stars — 
all excert one — has gone into another eclipse under the opaque Piadicalisa^ 
which, to Mr. Speaker, was growing so lumirious ! 

As if to make this absurdity more palpable, the Speaker caused at once a tele- 
graph to be read, that the State, the Slate of Alabama -had just voted for the 
CoQstitutionfil Amendment abolishing .slavery ! Tho huzzahs again rang fortls, 
and sleek ration-fed negroes from the galleries joined in tli-o Indecorous acclaim I 
(Laught^^r.) « We know it all well," said Thaddeu=. Stevens ; for had not the 
caa«u.? arranged evervthins' ' No sooner had Alabama been cheered as a State- 



than tbc caucus resolution was drawn from the pocket of Mr. Stcycos. It ap- 
pointGd iifteeti member« from both the Senate and House, to stand guard over 
the Halls of Cougrctis and kooj. back the States from representation in either 
House. Two-thirds voted to receive it in the House, and 133 voted for it — 
LOt one Rcpglican voting no. — (Globe, \^.G.) 

Thus was constituted that Junta which has usurped the functions of the 
House and Senate, having under the Constitution the right to judge each for 
itself of the qualifications of its members. The record shows how this Junta, 
which was afterwards confirmed by the Senate, kept their vigils till the last hours 
of the session, when Tennessee was suddenly jerked in, with a rope round her 
neck, in degradation and shame. It mattered not whether the nscmbers elect 
were loyal :' whether they had spilt their blood for the flag. It was enough that 
they were sent from States against which the hate of Radicalism had becoma 
inveterate. 

The House having been without the unction of prayer on its fiist day, and 
feeling it« necessity, (laughter) proceeded on its second day to elf ct a Chaplain- 
Ten fighting gospellers were at once nominated ; all anxious to interlace their 
orizons with suggestions to the Deity about regulating human affair:-, and lec- 
tures to the House about reconstructing the negro race. (Laughter.) Most of 
the ten were urged because they had worn the uiail over the cassock, had smelt 
g-anpowder, and were regular devils in the way of fighting, and good at fighting 
devils : thus fitting them for the duty of prayer to the Prince of Peace 1 
Surely now the House is baptized in the spirit of fraternity 1. Accordingly, on 
the day following, the Chaplain elect thanks God for a united country ; (laugh- 
ter) that there is cot one star missing; that the wounds are healing : that there 
is no slave, master, nor chain in the whole country. This in the face of the 
House which had erected an oligarchy of fifteen to fetter eleven conquered 
States! Such hypocrisy is only equalled by its andacity I (Cheers.) For it 
was but a few days after this that a Senator from Michigan, while in debate, 
(p. 24) declared that " these States were conquered communities — communities 
in which the right of self-government does not exist." (G*/o6p, p. 24.) He 
demanded that there should be a declaration by the Executive that hostilities 
had ceased before he would recognize them as States. But, when the procla- 
mation was made on the 2d of April last, he still held that these States were 
in Provincial bondage I The war, it .seems, had not melted the fetters, and the 
stars -wt: (J not all on the flag I 

"Wljf II tbi.s unprecedented legislation came before the Senate on the I2th of 
Deceub..r, 18G5, Senators Cowan and roolittle protested against this veto, by 
one br - ';h of Congres?, through this Committee of Filteen, upon the action of 
the other ia reference to the admission of moiubtrs. But iLcir protests were 
unheeded. That Conuuittee locked the doors of Congress in the face of ap- 
proaching State?, not once or twice, but continually througli the largest part of 
the year past. This, the record 1 produce, will show. "When Mississippi 
appeared with the credentials of Senators Alcorn and .Sharkey, they were laid 
on the tabic preparatory to being swallowed like all the rest by the Directory. 
[Globe, p. 7.) When again, on the 12th of December, Mr. Pvayniond presented 
the credenlial.s of the Tennessee members, Mr. Stevens waved him to the Com- 
mittee which he had too faially helped to erect. Said Mr. Stephens: "The 
State of Tennessee is not krown to this House, ncr to Congress,^' By a vote 
of 182 Republicans to 35, Tennessee wa,s committed to the Morgue for some 
eight months before her friends recognized hpr as the old familiar State of Jack- 
son and Johnson. 

On the 13th of December, 18G5, Mr. Guthrie umde an attempt to bring in 
the Loui-siana Senators, but il was foiled by Mr. Grimes. On the 14th, Mr. 
Wilson, in the House, offered a resolution sending all the papers he could into 



the grave dug bj the caucus for the States. A Eepubliean Member, Mr. DavU, 
with great siiiiplicitj, inquired whether it was in order to pass a resolution like 
that from the Committee of Fifteen, in conflict with Ihe CVmstitution. (Laugh- 
ter.) This naivete produced an outburst of Radical laughter ; and it seemed by 
the vote that followed, that it was considered in order to abolish the Constitu- 
tion. The rirectory xvere sustained — 107 to 56. Again, on the 18th, Clay 
Smith presented a loyal soldier, with his credentials from Arkansas, for admis- 
sion. He found himself quickly, with his friend, in " the cold obstruction of 
the grave," and earth piled upon him until his utterance was choked by the 
previous question. {Globe, p. G8.) 

After three days, to wit, on the 21st of December, the hand of resurrection 
seemed to be at work, scraping away the inhospitable earth. (T-aughter.) Clay 
Smith reaches from the sepulchre, with skinny fingers, shakes the "great seal of 
the State of Arkansas" (page 116) in the face of the House, and <' begs the 
poor boon for his friend, Colonel Johnson, member elect, of beiug recognized as 
a gentleman — (laughter) — and a claimant by sitting on the floor!" Even this 
grace was denied him, and Clay became again with his friend of the earth, earthy. 
This recognition of gentility under such plausible introduction was withheld I 
Nothing discomtitted, llio member from Kentucky attempts to withdraw Tennes- 
see from the Directory and send her to the more sprightly Committee on Elec- 
tions (page IIG) ; but a shovel full of gravel from the inflexible sexton, Thad- 
deus Stevens, settled this spasmodic effort. He subsided imtil the 13th of 
February, ISGu, (page 812,) when he again makes a post-mortem attempt ; but 
seventy-eight Eadicale, with an energy which would have made an impression 
upon a corn-field, or a canal, united their shovels, and raised a mound over his 
perturbed spirit. (Laughter.) Singular spectacle I Dead and not dead ; alive 
and yet not alive : entombed, yet ever restless ! What absurdities I Consider I 
On the 13th of May, 1862, West Virginia was admitted, in pursuance of a 
clause of the Constitution, which required that the Legislature of the State of 
Virginia should give its consent ; yet, when Virginia comes to be represented, 
she is not a State I Andrew Johnson, prcclaimed Vice President, from the 
State of Tennessee, by Vice President Hamlin, on the ISth of February, 1865, 
when President, lo ! is from no State in the Union ! By the law of 1862, all 
these dead States are taxed as States by a direct tax I By the decision of the 
United States Courts, first, in the case of the Circassia, from Florida; and 
secondly, in Harvey vs. Tyler, from Virginia, by Justice Miller, the?e States 
were held to be vital in every part. By the "peecbes and proclamations of 
President Lincoln, by his appointment to federal ofBees in these States, the 
fallacy of their death by suicide is scouted. Surely these jackals v:isk to con- 
sider their prO}- dead, that they may fatten on them, to whet and gorge their 
appetite for power and plunder. (Cheers.) Tcad for representation, but alive 
for taxes ! (Cheers) Dead for a President, but alive for a Vice President I 
Alive for dividing old Virginia, but dead, when Virginia is a link in the cordoa 
of the Union ! Alive to walk outside the Capitol, but dead when they ask to be 
admitted to its equal honors ! So it goes on to the end of the session. But at 
last Fiadiealism grew anxious about an exposition of these incongruities. The 
people are not satisfied. Even some Pvepublicans grew anxious. I find Mr. 
Davis, of New York, inirodueing a bill, making it a pfcal oifence to create 
Jacobin clubs to control Congress. (471.) On the 18th of December, 1865, 
Mr. Stevens propounded in a speech his proposition for the government of the 
conquered provicces, as be styled them. (74.) Congress, he held, was sover- 
eign, and it was time she " should assert something of the dignit5*of a Roman 
Senate." (Laughter.) Denying that this was a white man's gcvernment, as 
political blasphemy, he preferred that the slaves should have been left in bond- 
age, rather than be frae without suffrage. " A white man's government," be ^Zr 



flaiujed, " is as atrocious as the iufatuoas sentiments Ibat damueu the late Chief 
Justice to everlagtiug fame.^ if not to everlasting firo," This exposition seemed 
a poor excuse for excluding States relcexned from secession by blood. 

On tbe lOtij of Dcoeaiber, 18G5, this " Romau Senate '' were coaipellea to 
fi^teu to a message froiu the President and General Grant {Giube 78,) in which 
they were informed of the restoration of the Federal authority and the obedience 
of the people in the SouliierQ States with willingness and proinplitude ; the 
anxiety of the pco})le there to resume peaceful pursuits, and that .seotional ani- 
mosity was resolving itself into a spirit of nationality. The President confirmed 
General Grynt's statement, that rcpresonfation would resalt in a harmonious 
restoration. This was not palatable to Congress ; and the Committee of Fifteen 
went to work to obtain counter testimony from the Covodes, Shurtzes, and other 
morbid people whose impressions were colored by their politics, and whose poli- 
tics wore regulated by their pockets and spite. Mr. Sumner denounced the 
message as a white-washing affair, and on the 20th dragged front his repertoire 
all the accumulations of months written him by the bureau-crats, coLton-stealers, 
and other agents, who were disgusted with the Southern poojde for desiring to 
be friendly to the Union. Mr, Sumner pretended not to speak in '-'anger, vin- 
dietiveness, or harshness ;" oh, no ; but " buiemnly and carefully, th.-it peace 
and reconciliation should prevail." Thus du vy-orus mock deeds. Mr. Stevens 
pretended to no sneh Joseph Surfy.oe sentiu^euts, when on the same day in the 
House (pagvj 100) he introduced his bill to wreak out of the desolated South 
double pensions for soldiers and pay for damages done to Lis iron forges and 
property of other Northern loyalists. His was no sweet Christian appeal. 
(Laughter.) It proposed to take ouly five hundred millions of what was left of 
the South, for the above purposes, and the remtiant left to desolated hearths and 
homes he proposed to apply to the national debt of the conqueror ! In opposing 
the confiscation bills in Congress I showed that the property of Ireland had 
changed under the vcugeance of English oonfiscat'on eleven time-- : bat this was 
through several hundred yeais of oppres.sion. Mr. Steven-^ propose yokes of 
jrOD where Cromwell only proposed yokes of wood. lie never brought bis 
proposition to a vote : but I believe that had he enforced it by his satanic 
rhelorie, he might have obtained ia that House a m-jjority of human tigers on 
the ayes and noes, (Cheers.) Aft?r these oahibition?, do not be sarprisod to find 
other sextons at work diggiug other graves for others of the Southern Statea. 
On the lith of January, 18U6 {Globe, 193,) South Carolina was buried; on the 
15ih (233,) Arkansas ; on the next day, Florida (312 :) soon after, ISorth Caro- 
lina (GGl ;) on the 7t.h of February (714,) Alabama, with a few more shovels 
full of dirt thrown in on the l'2th (800) ; another effort on Arkansas on the 2iJth 
of February (1025,) on motion by Senator Lane, of Kansas ; a few days after, 
Noith Carolina was doubly buiied (1083) in that cemetery for all — the Com- 
mittee of Fifteen. On the 4lh of June the State of Mississippi was entombed 
(2949) in the same sweet spot, and on the Ist of March (1131) Louisiana also, 
in the person of Senator Boyce. Meanwhile the Directory, whiuh " carried at 
its girdle the keys of the Union," began to be cajoled by some Tennessee patri- 
ots of the Brownlow pattern, eager for admission. On the 5ih of March (1189) 
Mr. Eiugham reported a bill declaring Tennessee a State, on equal footing with 
other States, on condition, however, that her people would never do certain 
things which the Fifteen immaculates thought bad. There was an explosion on 
this, and the bill was shelved. It laid upon the shelf sleeping, sweetly em- 
balmed iu the frankincense of Republican sympathy until the 20tb, when Mr. 
Raymond asked Mr. Biughaui gently, when he proposed to lead her in, as he 
would like to be there to see. He received for reply : *' Next week, if it was 
the pleasure o^the House." On the next day a member offered to insert a little 
gunpowder under the committee (1553) to blow them open upon Tennessee : 



but tbat btern s(at<^saian, Hou. J. M. Ashley "poured oa water," and the I'uae 
failed. (Laugbl«r.) 

Anotber attempt was made to discbarge the Committee (2119,) but the dis- 
cbarge did not '= go off." The Speaker ruled the resolution out of order, and 
Tennessee still remained in the crjpt of the Capitol. Mr. Ross, of Illinois, on 
on the 28tb of May, attempted to lift Mr. Maynard in by maia force, but what 
was this " man of Koss" to fifteen men ? He, too, failed, and the skeleton 
again dropped into its sepulchre, (Laughter.) (2859.) 

It was not uuiil the 19th of July that the joint resolution admitting Tennes- 
see came before the House, It no sooner appeared, lack-lustre aud shadowy^ 
than Mr. Stevens endeavored to table it for dissection. He only got thirty-one 
votes against ninety-two ; but soon after, he iooreasod his strength'to forty-nine, 
when Mr. Bingham, who still had charge of it, reported a fresh rcsolutioa, 
superfiuous and void as a resolution and with a lie as its preamble. The pre- 
amble recited that Tennessee had ratified the constitutional amendment of this 
session, and the resolution pretended to restore her to those relations which she 
had never forfeited by a void recession ordinance ;. yet the Hoi?e voted the pream - 
ble 87 to 48 ,^3970,) in spite of the protest of the truthful man of the House. The 
resolution was passed with the preamble (C980,) and the Senate afterwards 
modifyiog both (4000,) Tennessee, by the action of both houses, became by 
some wonde.'fal Kadical magic a State, and members elected more than a year 
before were graciously admitted to their seats .' They were ushered in under 
the garb of a transparent falsehood, and this, too, by the party which Senator 
Wilson declared [Globe, p. 341) -'planted itself on the rock of ages, and had 
all the measureless moral inilnenees of the universe to sustain it." (Cheers and 
laughter.) Then followed the general law that when any State should adopt 
the amendmea's of the Constitution as to civil rights, basis of representation, 
inelligibility to office, and the public debt, and .should modify their State laws 
to suit these ncv.- conditions, their members, after taking the odious test-oath, 
might be admitted. This bill, however, was killed— 101 to 35. Thus, no condi- 
tions for the admission of States in the form of a bill, not even the atrocious 
ones proposed, were adopted (3931) So that after eight months of patient 
incubation the only egg laid, over which there was so much cackling, is this 
Tennessee fmco. The whole question remains as open as it was in December, 
1865, when Mr. Speaker .*aw all the stars, only a little paler by rebellion, grow- 
ing brighter, and the Chaplains thanked God for the acceptable year of a tho- 
roughly renovated Republic ! 

But in what regard was Tennessee entitled to this pretentious preference f 
True, she had been organized under President Lincoln and Military Governor 
Andrew Johnsou. Jjhe had a Governor — a Reverend Bobadil — called Brown- 
low, elected on tlie 4th of March, 18G5. On the 5th of Ju?3e, 18G5, she had 
passed a franchise act, with white shining all through it, and black nowhere, and 
had disfranchised her rebel population. Her legislative acts were, however, 
recognized ; but no more so than those of Arkansas. The Arkansas Govern- 
ment had been reorganized, and the State formally restored October 30, 1865. 
In Louisiana, Governor Wells had been elected in November, 1865. That 
State was fully launched uadcr her own Legislature. Virginia was in the same 
condition. Nor.;h Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, 
FLtrida, a-id even Texas, had substantially complied with the conditions exacted. 
They had abolished slavery by accepting the amendment. Most of them had 
repudiated the rebel debt ; had allowed negroes the right to testify and sue: 
repealed their secession ordinances ; and had, in one way or another, with great 
kindness to the negro, endeavored to reconcile his new condition and their dis- 
ordei'^d industry with the estab! lushed order. In reviewing the peculiar acts ©f 
these States, not at all essential to their existence or recogniticn as States, I 



19 

chaRcBge any one to show, in the history of nations or of wars, conduct more 
acquiescent and Hjaguanimous. (Cheers.) They had complied — not in the 
baste of hypoorlsj, but in earnestnoss and sincerity — with the orders of the 
President. When, therefore, on the 2d of April, 1866, ihe President pro- 
claimed secession overthrown, the national unity maintained, the war ended, and 
its incidents of military occupation, military lav/, military tribunals, and sus- 
peneion of the l/abcas corpm ended with the war, he justly planted his procla- 
mation on the fundamental principle of humanity and freedom, that they should 
be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends (Applause.) 
Henoe he declared them " constituent communities under the Constitution : 
States of equal imihunities, dignity and power, and not territories, dependen- 
cies, powers, or protectorates." Every department had been authorized thus to 
regard them. When Congress met, the President in his message implored the 
House and Senate, each for itself, to complete the good work by the"; admission 
of Representatives. 

After eight months we have their answer in the still incomplete structure. 
To perpetuate this condition they have sent to the States the:r amendment to 
the Constitution as a sort of condition precedent to their admission. But they 
take no steps to have it adopted. Ir is a politician's trick. What does it pro- 
pose \ First, that the equal rights of the negroes should be guarded — as if 
they bad not already exhausted their feeble ingenuity on that measure by their 
Civil Pughts Bill. Second, the basis of reprc^^cntatioa should be changed to 
suit ihe needs of tlie Eopublicau party. Since the slaves are now freed they 
count one each, instead of three-fifths of one, in the ratio for Congressmen. 
The Republicans have produced this very dilemma out of which they now wish 
to flounder. But they are making a groat noise ah.out a very little matter. Even 
if the amendment is not adopted, the basis of representation remains on a three- 
fifths basis until the next census of 187D or 1872. But, since every free negro 
counts one in the North, why should he not count one in the South ? Is he not 
a man and a brother ? (Laughter.) The voters may be less in proportion to 
the non-voters, but that is the business of the States and not of Congress. If 
California chooses to make voters out of coolies, she can do so ; but the coolies, 
whether voters or not, are counted in the basis of represestation. Moreover, 
one-tifth of the slaves have been destroyed by the war. The gain of Congress- 
men to tlic South by the freedom of the slaves is only eis. They would get at 
the nest census twenty-six instead of twenty, which they now have. For these 
sis, the Constitution nust be reformed at a time when the States most concerned 
are not consulted, and the amendments are to be voted on by States not in the 
Union ! The third amendment is to degrade those who have served in the rebel- 
lion at the South from all office, and to fix this disgrace indelibly upon their 
leading men forever, by way of pleasing thorn with the Constitution under 
which they must live, if at all, as equals. The last amendment is in re;-pect to 
the rebel debt : it is nothing but the demagogue's device to frighten feeble 
minds in the North. No sane man believes That debt will ever be paid, or 
attempted to be paid. 

Such a series of anjcndments might well call for a veto from a President who 
desires to have the States grow in peace about, a common home, and blossom 
and fructify into fraternity and allegiance. (Cheers.) The amecdmonts are 
a scheine to keep out the States. It is well known that they will not be adopt- 
ed. But there had to bo scmelLiug, if ohly a bottomless, tub, thrown out to 
the Republican leviatl.an, if only to enable him to « spout" in the waters which 
he agitates. It is a sign that the Presidential harpoon has struck the blubber. 
(Laughter.) 

After swearing in the Members and Senators from Tennessee, ten States re- 
jaained entombed. Thus the round of absurdity was run. The State of Ten- 
nessee was allowed her "practical relations" to the Union, although by Repub- 



11 

lican tlieory she was but a dead carcass like the other ton. Ye^. even 'it last, 
Thaddcus Stevens voted to bring iu this carcass. Ho might have found a prece- 
dent for the orgies ot this occasion in the history' of one of the Stuarts. In the 
dissoluteness which made the reign of the second Charles so ignominious, a dead 
child was found in the pakce — it was the offspring of some maid of honor, bj 
some courtier, perhaps bj Charles himself. The whole fliglht of panders and 
buffoons pounce upon it, carry it in triumph to the royal laboratory, where his 
majesty, after a brutal jest, dissects it for the amusement of the assembly, pro- 
bably its own father among the rest. So this State, dead according to the 
heresy begotten of Sumner and Stevens, after lying about the Capitol for months, 
is seized upon b}' the ribald Eadieals, and, after a brutal telegraphic jest from 
its own Governor Brownlow, is dissected under the knife of Thaddcus Steven^i 
for the amusement of this li evolutionary Assembly. This, too, after Stevens 
and his Directory of Fifteen had reported " that the States lately in rebe'lian 
were, at the close of the war, disorganized communities, without civil govern- 
ment, and without constitutions or other forms by virtue of which political rela- 
tions could loyally exist between them and the Federal Government," and that 
Congress could not recognize their claims to representation. In the face of this 
report, and in defiance of the resolution of Congress, these " Roman Senators'* 
enacted for party purposes the ernel jest of dragging in the dead Tennessee, 
rigidly esclnding the rest of the Southern States. They biid declared, in the 
words of my old antagonist, Mr. ShelJabargcr, that Tinless they got irreversible 
guarantees they wo"jld exclude all ihcvse Suites and make them do|'endencies for- 
ever''. — (Fage li7.) Even Mr. Stevens, disgusted with their performance in 
respect to that State, endeavored at first to defeat it ; for he had at least the 
logic to perceive the mist into which his party were steering by admitting Ten- 
nessee to the exclusion of tlic other States. Daboll's fog- trumpet, in the hands 
of the Arch Trumpeter of Sedition, might have saved this Coogress from this 
absurdity. Well migkt Mr. Stevens call on his satellites to be "Roman Sena- 
tors."' They might all ha\«D taken a lesson or two from that august Senate. 
Imagine Cato, crying to his scjueamish clients: "To hell with conscience!" 
(Laughter.) Imagine Cicero, while staunching the wound's of the State by con- 
ciliation, avov.ing, like Chandler, of Michigan, (p. 885) amid the applause of 
negroes in the gailerj-, th:it he still adhered to bis blood-letting letter after such 
terrible bloodshed as we have had. Fancy Marcellus, like Sumner, whetting 
the appetite <<f the public by reciting whole tomes in honor of a Pag'ia Nemesis ; 
or even the Imperial Julius Caesar, Avho, when his legions conquered provicoes 
by arms, held them by Roman arts, law, and citizenship, consigning the van- 
quiiLed "to the ^jcniientiarj of hell, guarded by bayonets" — (p. 2545.) 
What enabled Rome to triumph for a thousand years amid the severe trials of 
civil war and thrj gri at perils of foreign conquest? "\Vi;at enabled her, even 
when corrupt through spoils, torn by factions, threatened by Gauls, Germans, 
and Farthians, and misled by Consuls who shook the world for their personal ambi- 
tion, to rise superior to ail enemies, enduricig . and grand ? (Cheers.) It was 
because " the name of the people was always associated with the decrees of the 
Senate." . Those docrces assimilated to herself all peoples which she subdued, 
not by subduing thcra at onc,e to the same laws and the same rule, but by adopt- 
ing them all into the gi'cat Roman family. Muuicipia of dilTcrent degrees, 
various colonies, towns allied and free, all isolated like our States. by the differ- 
ence of tlieir eondition, were united by their equal dependence on the central 
power. This is the record which iS'apoIeon (Life of Caesar, i. 65) gives, and 
which made the Roman Senator the model legislator, and Fwome the mistress of 
the nations. The itoman Sena'or, invoked W Thaddcus Stevens, had the gene- 
rosity to reconcile the troubles of the State, and "thought more of his honor 
than of vengeance, however just." When Rome forgot this policy and dragged 
the despoiled provinoea through her strsets, then her deoline and fall began. 



12 

Sucli anachronisms, afi 1 have supposed, are as absurd as the simiiitade of this 
Congress to the Roman Senato. In'toad of elevating the States to their proper 
niches in the National Pactheon, these iimerican Seuators seek only to degrade 
them. 

A. iSonaNor from Wisconsin likened the South to the dead La/.ara?, only to be 
brought to life bj' Divine power. He said : '• I know they liave lain in the grave 
these four years, and smell worse than Lazjvus." (G'obs 165.) But the simile 
■was as incorrect as it was irreverent. A gesture fro 5a the hand of statesman- 
ship is all that is required. (Cheers.) No iladical miracle is needed. Ah I it 
was not that the States wore suspended or dead ;. but it was the fear that they 
might, when restored, exer;;ise th-ir vital fanctions of voting for tlioir own gov- 
ernment. Said that Senator : '• Do Senators comprehend what consequences 
result from restoring the functions of those States ? It will add fifty-oight mem- 
bers to the [louse, more than one-fourth of its present number. It will add 
twenty-two members to the Senate, nearly one-half of its present number." It 
adds also about eighty votes to the Electoral College. Ifc was the fear of future 
party defeat whi-h startled 11 idieal Senators, and sent them to the sepulchres of 
Judiea and the miracles of our Saviour for their illustrations. The outrage of 
sacrificing to a party the interests of ten millions of people, who are unrepre- 
sented, while every relation they bear to, life is at stake, has no parallel. Well 
might the Senator from Mississippi complain that Coagress taxed his Stafe on a 
yaluatioR of thirteen millions (her cotton crop) without her consent. The value 
of represcntatiDn to agriculture and commerce, threatened by the corrupt tariffs 
of the Congress, can only be estimated in the hundreds of millions filched f.om 
industry to foster and protect capital in its aggrandizemeuo. llepre^cntation 
would save these excesses of greed and power. 

The spirit of tliis Congress is not to bo extracted by folio viog their course 
with respect to the exclusion of Tennessee and other States. It is as well seen 
in wha! •) 'v • 'temptod and failed to do by their own inio-jriprM 't'..^;- :'-^^1 lucon- 
gruitef^. 

KKGRO SUFFRAGE. 

The attempts, from time to time, to csolude the States until they should adopt 
negro suffiage, is an illustraiijn. True, they failed, buc it was ftom no 
want of will among the mjjority. I do not refer to this subject now to argue 
the right of the blacks to suffrage. Whether it is a God-given right, or earned 
la war ; whether it is wise to allow millions of blacks just freed, to help to govern 
this land, or vfhether it is a question of whose skulls are the hardest in a scnffie 
at the ballot-bos — (cheers and laughter) — I do not propose to discuss. I give 
facts. When Mr. Noel!, of Missouri, [Glohs 20) oft^red a resolution that mem- 
bers should not be excluded because negroes as a class were excluded as voters 
for said members, the vote was then cleverly dodge ), but was afterwards pressed 
(pp. 25, 27) when 8G against .30 refused to deny to Congress the right to make 
Voters in the States ; even though the Constitution, unmistakably in the second 
section of article 1, fixed that right iu the States. i\goin when, Mr. Thornton 
(p. 70) proposed that the States alone could decide the conditions of the elective 
franchise, it was voted down — 111 to 46. When, at the end of the session, Mr. 
Sumner offered his resolution to exclude Nebraska as a State till negro suffrage 
was permitted, it reeeivod but four Radical votes. Thi3 was placarded by Con- 
servatives as a renunclalion of their doctrine of equality in suffrage and con- 
gressional power over it. But i* was not so. The record shows it to be other- 
wise. A Vermont Senator (p. 7) began this species of legislation by a ressolu- 
tion that no reconstruction shouM bo had, except equal rights, without respect 
to color, including the elective franchise, were allowed. I»ejolutions to make 
all equal before the law were ofScred by Stevens (p. 10,) Bingham (p. 14,) and 
Farnsworth (page 15,) which were intended, like the first of the recent amend- 
meit."; to open the way for negro eufff^Jge. Sir. Julian (p. 2429)offfred a rcso-^ 



In 
O 

lotion, declaring that suffrage iihould not be abridged on account of color iu (he 
Territories or in new States. The attempt to stifle this resolution reoeived only 
twentj-ninc votes against scvcnty-six ! When, afterwards, in the Senate, Mr. 
Wade oftcred a general Territorial bill of the same tenor (8470.) it was re- 
ceived with favor. Bat the District of Columbia, which has been called the 
negroes' paradise, was the field for these eflorts. Kelley, Julian, and Spalding, 
each presented laws to allow the negro suflfrage there. A vote was had and a bill 
iictually passed iu the Hou*, IIG to 5-t (p. 310,) amid the cheers of a black 
mob in the gallery : This was done in defiance of the vote iu the District of 
Columbia, certified to Congress by Mayor Wallaeh, which showed, on a large 
poll, 6,591 against, and only 35 for the measure! It came near passins the 
Senate, (3134) the most Eadical proposition of Senator Morrill beinr,' lost by only 
four minority. It was then diopped aiuid the confusion of closing the session 

I said that some 2,000 pages of the Globe was taken up with discussions ex- 
clusively about the negro. Perhaps one-third of this number was in reference 
to suffrage in the District, and the remaiiidcr on Frcedmen's Bureaus and negro 
representation. So great was the Eadical devotion to the negroes, that on a 
(question of precedence xaised by Mr. Le Blonde, between them and our suffer- 
"ing finances, the uegr es gained it by thirty-one majority ! (1458.) 

On the question of negro representation in Congress, the resolutions of the 
Radicals began early and kept up until they culminated in the amendment to 
which I have ulluded. GcDeral Schenck (Globe, 9) offered the first iu the series 
apportioning Beprescntativcs according to the voters; Mi. Pike followed 
(p. 135,)Mr Blaine next (p. 136,) then Mr. Orth (p. 235,) Mr. Stevens and 
Mr. Broomall, untd the sky was dark with fluttering flocks of amendments 
They were .-ill c^aught and scut to the Committee of Fifteen : 

" Four aud twenty blacklirdr ijakwi iji a pi*-. 

Wheu Ihf pie was opened, 

The birds begun to sing ; 

W^s'nt that a prett}- dic?h 

To se: before the king I" (Laughtej-. ) 
But King Caucus digCBted (hem, and from its report we have a ne-,v am-jud- 
went to the Constitution. At first, tlie basis began on voters, when it was found 
out by a calculating New Englandcr that Vermont, for instance, had more peo- 
ple and les,s voters than California : but euch had !hroe iueu;ber3 ' 
Vermont had of people - - - - . _ 553 ^q 

C-alitoruia do. ,--__. gj^ ofin 

Vermont had of votera but - - - - _ 87*000 

While Calif >rnia had . - . ^ - _ 207*000 

So that while California would get eight members, Vermont would onlv keep her 
three ! This was a pretty dish. So that New Kngland was not so"' ready to 
«wap off her women and children, lunaficP, &e., for frcedmei;, iu the exclusion 
or all except voters from the basis ! She was willing to lose her codfish boun- 
ties, provided she got salt/fcr thorn free. (Laughter.) She was willing to see 
madder introduced for agricultural growth, by the Government, free ! {Globe, 
p. 734.) She was v/illing to f:vVor a coinage of five cent pieces and make them' 
a tender to the amount of a dollar. (Laughter.) She was willing to abolish 
liquor from the Capitol, and make va:ious"other sacrifices, but never would she 
trade off her women and children, counted in the ratio, for the satisfaction of 
d' priving the South of tix Congrosnnen on the nov^ bL:sis.' 

At length New Etiglaad succeeded, and the ameiidmect took its present fljrui, 
that all persons should be couuted, but no males over age deprived of voting by 
reason of color ! This is tlie meaning of it. U is a menace to the South : « If 
you don't allow nagroe.s to vote they shall not be counted in the basis of repre- 
sentation. Minors, woraoia, lunatics, ooDvicts - non-TOtcrs— and negro voters 
shall be counted, but negroes without suffrage, never. Agree to (hi- |..a;sif? or 



14 

8tay out I" Now, 1 am not pvcp^ired to sa,y but that soruetliiDg :-ljould be done 
10 reform the basis, but I ara prepared to say that I do not approve of any plan 
which changes the organic law while a third of the States to be affected by it. 
^are kept aloof from the Congress which proposes the amendment by a threat of 
Federal disfranchisement, nor any plan Vv-hich takes any other basis than the 
whole population. (Cheers.) 

mSUNION LECilSLATlON. 

Under this head I might arrantre resolutions and bills already referred to, and 
many others which Prcsidoiit Johnson in his last veto called " class legislation '* 
/(p. o8r>9.) Such were the Freedraen'a Earv?aa bills vetoed by the President 
Jp. 35G2) - bills_ to suck |5,000,000 to -^10,000,000 per annum from the 
Treasury to enrich clergymen who are .specul itors in plantations, and petty 
satraps with unearned epaulettes who .strut their brief hours in the Southern 
State?, making^lawof their whims and patriotism of their speculations. (Cheers.) 
Such, too, was the Civil Itight.s bill, which had its inception in the doctrine of 
maldng all equal before the law ; which sought to introduce a new system of 
judicature into the States whose functions were Tisurpcd and whose rights were 
annulled. This was promptly vetoed (p. 1.S5S) though afterwards pas'-od. Such 
was the series of resolutions offered by Mr. Orth (p.^899,) 3Ir. Eaker (p. 1150,) 
and others, that no oiTiee of trust should be lield by rebels, which culminated 
in one of the recent amendments. ■ Such was the resolution of Mr. liroom- 
all that the recusant States could not vote to a!i;end the Constituior; (p. 919,) 
although the amendments concerned them most ; the resolution of Mr. Long- 
year for the military occupation of the Fouth, which wns passed—llT to 23 (p. 14;) 
the proposition of Senator Howe (162) creaihig local governments by Congress 
for the States ; Senator Stewart's universal amne-ty for univci-sal sufTrsge— a 
panacea but in name (1437 ;) the resolution of Mr. Williams against withdraw- 
ing the military forces, thus usurping the duties of the Executive and Comman- 
der-ir;-Chief, which passed— 91 to 37 (137:) the bill of Mr. Wilson to annul 
State laws and protect freedmen (39 ;) the resolution of Mr. Hill to j-.re-serve 
the odious test oaths (71 ;.) the enabling act of Mr. Ashley for admis-don of dead 
States, under odious ami degrading condition'^, and the crushing out of the reso- 
lutions of Senator Davis to restore civil aulhority and the h^ibeas corpK'ti, on the 
cessation of war (23.) 

x\ll these measures indicate the ruling spirit of this Congress. Ii wjis so 
determined to perpetuate its power and overrule the President, that States like 
Colorado were admitted which only cast 5,905 votes, not a third of an ordinary 
Congressional uislrict. This, tpo, was happily vetoed (2609.) Nebraska was 
half in, but smothered by the jobs of the la-'-t few days of the session. All this 
legislation tended to ag:^randise the Federal power, and ta lodge it iu tho Con- 
gress. Of a piece with it was the attempt to create a Bureau of Kducatjon — 
" to enforce education, without regard to race and color, on the population of all 
such Statns as &hall fall below a standard to he established by CLmgro^Hs"— 
(laughter)— actually proposed by Mr. Donnelly (60,) and adopted by 113 to 37, 
but afterwards voted down by two njajurity (3051.) A Congress which could 
cntertam such a system might well listen to the proposition of some rciigious 
zealots to ch.-inge the present grand preaml le of the C^^nsUtution so a? to laint 
it with religious intolerance, (3683, )or adapt it to the ItExdical cotitifitution of 
Missouri. Judging by wh it Couiircss did, wo might ini':T that it would givo leg- 
islative life to every crazy crotchet of which our time and land is so prolific. I 
wonder what standard of education and religion t'ds party of" measureJoss a oral 
forces founded on tlic rock of ag..s" would e-.tablioh. 'Would it be the rule of 
three, or the Integral Calcijlus!'" Would h be a knowledge of Mother Goose's 
Melodies, or Kant's Pure l-loasou ? Would it take tlie Armenian or Culvinistie 
frtith? Would it '<j:ig" the Jews and cut the Catholics j or would it hold to 



15 

the transcendental theory that the Saviour was a man like Soerat-es or Siiaks- 
peai'O, and, like its ty|:>e, the revolutionary party in Franco, enthroue the God- 
dess of Reason in the person of a courtezan ! 

OTUER LBGIgLATIVE SCHEME?. 

Not loss absurd, bat more unjust, was the legislation which led to the squandering 
of the public domain without stint to corporations without souls ("cheers ;) the squan- 
dering of money on Freedmen's Bureaus and ou tlieniselves ; on trips to the Russian 
empire in a vestjel of warC2368J in which $200,0CH> is rilJ(>d from the people — to con- 
gratulate the Czar, and show to maritime powers the secrets of our iron-clads ; the 
publication of an official history of the rebellion, to ]>e written with a New England 
pen dipped In gall ; tba preferment of Montana companies in the settlement of the 
valuable lands of the mining districts of the West — a monopoly vetoed twice by the 
President. 

Need I recall the attempt to violate custom and the Constitution in the effort made 
to abridge the President's right of appointment; the attempt to reassemble by the 
edict of the presiding oaicers when the party demanded it ; its assailing a foreign min- 
ister for writing a patriotic letter by the withdrawal of his salary ; its demagogue 
appeals for the Fenian vote und«r th<- pretence of repealing the neutrality law, which 
they conveniently smothered in the Senate Committee (cheers ;) its unparalelled par- 
tiality to a pet class in taxation : and, finally, its atteiapt, as revealed by Mr. Kay- 
mond, to precipitate a civil war, by providing in a resolution of General Paine, of Wis- 
consin, for the di.-itributiou of arms of the Government among the States where they 
were in the ascendant, and the desire, as revealed by Mr. Boutwell, iu the caucus, to 
remain iu session to help the Radical BUck and White insurrectionists of New Urleaas 
to overturn iu blood tlie existing State Government ! CCheers.J 

In speaking of the contrasts of the time of Charles II., Macaulay says that Atheists 
turned Puritans, and Puritnns Atheists; Republicans defended the divine right of 
Kings, and Courtiers clamored for the liberties of the people ; Judges iuilamed the rage 
of mobs, and Patriots pocketed bribes ; but what pen so grf.pLio as to describe the 
grotesque transformation of this Thirty-niulh Congress i Profei^sing economy, they 
practiced profligacy ; calling themselves Union, they foment Distraction; screaming 
for Liberty to the Black, they forge fetters for the White ; holding eleven States in 
thrall, they release one, but do it in dishonor ; challenging the Constitutional Veto of 
a fearless President, they veto the exclusive riglats of one House by a resolution of 
both ; glorying in being the champions of the war, they cheat the people oat of 
its results ; introducing bills to annex Canada to the Union before she asks for it, they 
labor to keep out our own fcitates who crave to come in ! Oh ! for a Macaulay to illus- 
trate the fickle weakness and wilful wickedness of this medley of mediocrities ! 
fAppl'mse.) Yet this same Congress, so full of schemes for private aggrandizement 
and jobs of colossal proportions, could at one blow strike from the tonnage of this 
country 800,303 tons which sought restoration for their American registers, lost 
through the failure of the Government to protect this shipping ou the high seas (534.) 
This blow, aimed at New York, was passed in the House by 99 to 52. 



What has been done to assist the finances or develop the mines and commerce of ihe- 
nation ? What has been done to carry q^it the earnest appeals of the Secretary 
01 the Treasury? With a paper currency, -amounting on the 28th of June 
last to $917,014,769~which Mr. Morrill considered alarming to the last degree — what 
has been done ? Nothing. Nothing to contract its amount and place trade on a healthy 
foundation. The attempt to do so failed ('14:31,^ either from lack of ability to com- 
prehend the question, or the overriding negro and di^runion legislation prevalent iii 
the Congress. Before this Alp of paper money — a mountain of lampblack and paper, 
nearly a thousand millions of irredeemable issues, inliating all prices and disordering- 
all calculations, full of impending dangers — thi.s Congress stood stupid, fcnrful, and 
mute. The avalanche impending over <iur h-ads, the glacier grinding away our in- 
dustry, they looked at in blank amazcuent, utterly unable to grasp the problem, or 
too cowardly to suffer a present inconvenience to prevent a future catastrophe ! 

But these and many more derelictions could be forgotten and forgiv* n, had fhU 
Congress assisted ihe Executive to restore iiusiuess, contentment, and Union. But 
they failed, and but ouo reason do they give for that failure. The ma;>sc3 of the South 
were gmlty of treason ! But who pretends to arraign a v.-bole people? Supposing tho 
leaders do deserve it, do the m.-issvs ? If Horace Greeley writes the truth in hii^ 
"Conflict," thera is rank injustice, added to political foolishness, in withholding from 



16 

the aoulli'^.'ii in:ople tlit- blessings of Union, wLJch, lie says, tbey norer volnntaiily 
surrendered. In liis twenty- second ehapter, page 351, he says : 

" Tlie Shvve States and r)isli ids '.Tiiieh iiad uot united in the movement wore n.s follow- : 

Siati'f Free populatioii inl'^lVi. .V^•(■e*; Total. 

Arkansa? « -it,o^; lU.lOl J-iVJI- 

Delawan- .• n0,420 1,708 n-2,:1^ 

KeiUiuk' 930,2X1 226,400 1.150.71:! 

Marvuui'i rm,>yi6 s'.lSS t«7,t>84 

Mi'^youri ..-. 1,067 ,3o2 IM.Wo 1A82,:)17 

Vorth Ciirolin; GtU.586 ' i'Jl.OSl 9»2,e6T 

Teuuci'^i'c 8.3.1,06-J •-'7;. S^i l.liW,847 

Virgiuit l,li»,19-2 4;h\S.<C l.u9«,07i» 

District 01 I'ohunWa 71,Wo • 3,lsl 7o,u;i; 

Total ,-»,70»,900 l,t>U,-i78 7,-'U6,:r7S 

"So that, alur the oon.spi racy had li.'^d couipkne i>osse.«sjon of the Soulhrrarnind for three montli*. 
■Aith the Souiht III intinber^ of the Ciibinct, nearly all of the i ederal (■ftlcer.-, moj-t of the governor!' 
aud othti- Slate liiuctionflrios, and sown-eiphths of tlir proiiiintiit and H';tive p<.>!icif-ians, prer»?iug ii 
on, and no I'orce ex(.;rted figiu'n.-t nor in nuv manner threatcninr^ to ro^;--i iv, a majority (..I the Slave 
State.'-, \iith i\vo-!hir'd.s cf the free populaiiou of rl;e ontire slavcholding region, were oi)enly and 
pc^itivelv adver.se to it— eit)ier heoaiise liiey refiarded the a'legfdgrif^vanecfiof the Hout.h as exagge- 
"ftted if rict iinroal. or V.eean.-e il;ey l>elieved that tho~o wrong." would rociicr V<- aggiavattd than eurefl 
'oy dii^iuniun.' 

So that more than live and a half ujilliou.s are to be punished for the fault, mi.stake.-, 
or crimes of the two ndllions. It is too monstrous for human coucept-ioii. [Cheers.] 
Such vengeance is neither sanctioned by history, or Heaven. [Cheers. 1 

coxcxrsiox. 

Thus, in conriUfion, I return to the overmastering problem for the jX'Oifle to *oh-e. 
Shall Congress lead these Southern State.s througli the indefinite future captive, to make 
an Abolition holiday ; or fhall another Congres.s, aiding the Pre.sidmt, enlarge them in 
the liberty of independent and self-reliant statehood? 

The historian of Rome draws sornethiu;:- from his Imagination wht- n h>* pictures the 
proud Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, arrayed in purple, yet loadf-^i with golden chains t<i 
aggrandize the proceesion.s in honor of the conqueror of Asia. It needs no imagina- 
tion to i)icture the fate of ten States, not of foreign origin, but of one bloc^d, lau- 
guaage, and history and religion, folloAving with downcast eye the triumphant chariot 
of congressional power t States whose area u over "25,000 sinaa-e mile?'. ; larger than 
England, France, Spain, Portugal, and all Germany ; having a population of 10,000,- 
000; wiiose annual product from a little pod is greater than the wealth which the 
Roman bore in his stately galleys to Rome from the garden ;.ud jeweled Orient! 
(f Cheer.?.) Virginia, too proud, perhaps, but with sttch a grandeur of great names on 
lier rolls ; the Carolinas, weary of their waywardness, but stili the home of the Pinek- 
nej^. who gave the Constitution to America, and of those who at Meoklenberg antici- 
pated the Declaration, which at Kings .Mountain wa^s vonsummated in our Independence : 
Georgia, Florida, Alabr.ma, Mississippi, who~e feet are kissed by the waters of a thou- 
sand rivers, wliich, rolling through the valley of the Mississippi, gather their volumes 
of wealth from Minnesota to Louisiana — these are the subject St^te.-^ led in fetters at 
the car of this Imperial Congrcs.s. (Cheers.) Such exhibitions di.'+honored the great- 
ness of even Pagan Rome ; t!tey would not be tolerated by ambitious France, which 
takes Vonetia as a gift from tlie Kaiser onK' to set it as a. jewel in the crown of a United 
Italy. (Cheers.) It might tlnd its counterpart in the great land-animal of the North 
— Rus.'^i.'!, — in whose embrace prostrate Poland groans. Forgetting her own grasp ot 
Ireland, Eitgland assumes to be horrified at the spectacle. Even in Turkey, the policy 
if strangling brother.s by the Sultan no longer makes the traveller shudder as he 
-rceses the Bo-=phorus. 'But for this Chr5.-.tian laud of America, the people do uot ask 
snch a mockery of triumph and such a degredation of power. CCheers.) They will 
write th" epitaph of the Congress which proposes it in letters of Cre: " Hero lies the 
fragiuent of the Thirty-ninth American Congress, which, startipg with a furtive con- 
i>piracy against the Pre.sident, with opportunities never before vouchsafed for blessing, 
poetpoued Union ; and putting the Nation in peril of another civil war, it died under 
*he just indigifation of an aroused people, and is damned to an imciortality of infatny !" 
r Cheers.) 

The -Hbovo address was r<-peatedly punctuated by hoarty and euthueiastic .applause 
md Ifinghtor. The meeting then adjourned with icud cheers for the I'r'.^cident, Mr. 
Oox, and the Union of the btates. 



54 W 



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